THE CHAPEL OF ST. LOUIS

The land book contains two interesting entries on the subject of this chapel. At No. 111 it is said : “This land was formely ‘“ intended for the church of St. Annes’ and in the concession ‘“ made of it by the seigniors to the said Lalonde ( J. Bte. de La ‘ Londe dit l’Esperance) they have reserved for themselves six “ superficial arpents in front, to be taken 2 by 3 or 3 by 2, as it ‘“ may please them. This mark ‘“ M” shows the reserved land “ called d’Urfé Bay, on account of the Abbé d’Urfé who had had ‘“ built the first chapel of St. Annes on that spot.” At No. 112, the land book shows : “This mark ‘ M” indicates the place “ where formerly stood the first chapel of St Annes’ occupied and ‘“ ministered by the Abbe d'Urfé, who has given it his name.” This chapel was built between 1683 and 1685 It did not exist in 1678, in as much as there is no mention of it in the deed of survey of the land of J. Bte. de La Londe, made on the 10th December, 1678, by Basset. It was in existence in 1687, since there is mention of it in the deed of concession to the sieur de La Londe, It is also mentioned in the burial register of this same de La Londe, who,

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with nine other Frenchmen (1), (of whom three were soldiers probably garrisoned at Mr. Le Ber’s mill,) was killed by the Iroquois | k in September, 1687, and buried ‘near the parochial church.” | | This register is signed ‘ d'Urfé, curé of the parish of St. Louis.” | l De La Londe was buried in the church itself. The remains of (1 the dead were unearthed at Pointe Caron in 1866. (See Vieux | Lachine, page 12).

The chapel existed in 1685, and before, because during that | year St. Annes was erected into a parish under the name of St. Louis, and de La Londe was elected churchwarden ; but it did | not exist in 1683, since, in the ecclesiastical census of 1683, it is 1! declared that mass was celebrated in a private house at the upper | part of the island, ‘there being neither chapel, nor presbytery.” St. Annes was at that time under the spiritual charge of Mr. | | Remy, curé of Lachine (2). Mr. d’Urfé, formerly missionary of | (1) This statement, which is based upon the authority of Mgr. Tanguay,3 Royal

{ Society, 139, is incorrect. Two died of natural death, and eight only were killed | by the Indians on different occasions. Registre de Saint-Louis for 1687.

(2) A recent examination of the registers of Lachine and St. Annes has thrown more light upon the origin of this little chapel and the parish of Pointe St. Louis. The birth of ‘ Marie Magdeleine Coureau, fille de Cibarre Coureau, sieur de la

Coste”, was recorded in the register of Lachine, by Mr. Remy, on the 5th July 1

1683. He says: ‘Ce baptême a esté fait en la maison de Jean de La Londe dit I

Lespérance, habitant du hault de l'isle de Montréal, comme le lieu où je dis ordi 1

nairement la messe de cette mission dépendante dela yaroisse des Saints Anges de Lachine”. On the 26th of August, 1684, Mr. Remy makes another entry in | relation to the baptism of Anne Barbary, at Lachine, by Mr. Dollier, during the | absence of Mr. Remy at St, Anne’s, ‘‘en ma mission du hault de cette l’isle pour y ‘ faire le baptôme ci-dessus (the baptism of a child of De La Londe, made on the “21st August, 1684), et pour y célébrer la sainte messe”. The cemetery at Pointe ) Caron was not used in 1683, inasmuch as the dead body of Jean Lamerièque, the 4 ‘ domestique” of Gabriel de Berthé, sieur de Chailly, was carried the whole \i distance from the house of the said Chailly ‘sise au hault de l'isle” to Lachine, where the burial took place.

St. Annes was erected into a parish in the summer of 1685, under the name of | St. Louis, and on the 20th of September of the same year, the Bishop of Quebec, | while on a visit to that place, established its boundaries, namely, bounded to the Eh east by Pointe-Claire exclusively, and to the west by the lanis beyond the end 4 of the island, ‘‘commençant à la Pointe-Claire inclusivement et finissant par Î “ delà la pointe du bout de l’isle”., The Bishop was accompanied by Jean Guenet, ‘habitant du dit lieu ”, Olivier Quesnel, churchwarden of Lachine, Jean de Ë La Londe, churchwarden of the parish of St. Louis, Mr. Dollier, superior of the { Séminaire and Grand Vicaire, et Mr. Remy, curé of Lachine et missionnaire de ( É Saint-Louis. Registre de Lachine, p.7. What remains of the registers of St. | Annes from 1686 to 1704 will be found at Lachine. à The registers of Lachine contain a note in the handwriting of Mr. Remy, in À which it is stated that the registers of the parish of St. Louis were commenced Et 1686. They extend only to the years 1686 and 1687, and are all signed ‘D'Urfé, l j curé”, that is ‘‘curé de la paroisse de St. Louis du hault de l'Isle de Montréal”, Ë The first entry was that of the marriage of J.-Bte. Celoron, sieur de Blainville,

La Presentation, succeeded him, and hence, from missionary became first curé of St. Louis. If one must believe the census of 1683, there were at this time at St. Annes but 18 families and 59 souls. Mr. d'Urfé had in the same place the direction of a sma)l mission of Nepissing Indians, which was transferred later to Isle aux Tourtes and finally in 1726 to Oka, on Lake of Two

with Hélène Picoté de Bellestre, widow of Antoine de la Fresnaye, sieur de Brucy, both residing ‘dans cette paroisse”. The marriage took place in the parish, on the 29th of November, 1686, and was undoubtedly the first marriage performed at that place; but curé d'Urfé does not state where it was celebrated, whether in a chapel or in a private house,

The next entry is the natural death of Claude de la Mothe dit le marquis de Jourdy, buried on the 2%3rd of February, 1687, ‘‘ à la Pointe Saint-Louis”.

{On the 1st of March, 1687, the child of Jean Thillard ‘a été apporté à l’Eglise pour recevoir les cérémonies du baptôme ”.

On the 21st of September, 1687, Jean Vincent, killed ‘pendant la guerre avec les Iroquois”, was buried ‘à la Pointe Saint-Louis ”.

On the %0th of September, 1687, Jean de La Londe dit Lespérance, was killed by the Iroquois, and the next day, 1st October, was buried ‘‘ dans l'enceinte de l'Eglise Saint-Louis”. On the same day and under the same circumstances, Pierre Bonneau dit Lajeunesse was buried ‘proche le lieu destiné pour bastir l'Eglise Saint-Louis”. It can hardly be supposed that this entry was a mistake, for the same statement is repeated in the burial certificates of Pierre Perthuis, Henri Fromageau et Pierre Pettiteau, also killed by the Iroquois on the 30th of September, 1687. ‘

Pierre Camus dit La Feuillade, killed by the Indians on the 18th of October, 1687, was buricd on the 19th, ‘proche le lieu destiné pour le cimetière auprès de l'Eglise Paroissiale de Saint-Louis”; and on the same day, J.-Bte. Le Sueur dit La Hogue, also killed by the Iroquois on the 18th of October, was buried ‘‘ dans le lieu destiné pour le cimetière de la paroisse de Saint-Louis”.

Louis Jets, miller (meunier engagé) of Mr. Le Ber, who died of natural death “après avoir reçu le viatique”, on the 17th of November, 1687, was buriod on the following day ‘‘dans le cimetière de l'Eglise Paroissiale de Saint-Louis”. This is the last entry to be found in the registers of St. Louis, from its erection in 1685 to the year 1704 There is no trace of any record from 1687 to the year 1704, They were either mislaid or destroyed, perhaps in the fire of the presbytère or parsonage of Lachine during the night of the 11th and 12th January, 1769.

It is also possible that the Mission of St. Louis, with the exception perhaps of the little colony at Fort Senneville, on fief Bois-Briant, was closed after the massacre of 1687, and during the entire period of that terrible Indian war, which raged till the year 1698. Ii fact, it would appear from Mgr. Tanguay's Dictionnaire Généalogique, the registers of Lachine and the greffe of Pottier, that during that long period of more than ten years, the old inhabitants of St. Louis were living either at Villemarie or Lachine, for instance Jean Guenet, J.-Bte, Celoron, sieur de Blainville, Guillaume D’Aoust, D’Ailleboust-D'Argenteuil, Cybard Courraud, sieur de la Coste, la veuve de Jean de La Londe dit Lespérance, Jean Nepveu, Jean Thillard, Aimè Legros dit Lecompte, Pierre Cavelier, Nicholas Le Moyne, la veuve Pierre Bonneau dit Lajeunesse and Pierre Maupetit dit Le Poitevin, who sought refuge at Lachine, but was taken prisoner during the night of the massacre of the 5th of August, 1689, and subsequently killed by the Iroquois in their village. Greffe de Pottier, 2nd May, 1700. The Bout de l'Isle appears to have been deserted, except by the proprietors of Fort Senneville, to be re-occupied only after peace was practically made with the Iroquois in 1698, This may explain the dates of the concessions of Pointe-Claire and of those north of Fort Senneville, during the year 1698 and following. No

mal

Mountains. Report of Quebec Provincial Secretary, 1886-87, p. 210 It was only long after its foundation that St. Louis took the name of St. Annes, the latter probably from the name of the first chapel built by Mr. d’Urfé.

Mr. d'Urfé belonged to one of the first families of France, being the son of the Marquis d'Urfé He was closely connected

mention is made of the parish of St. Louis in the registers of Lachine or in the greffe of Pottier, who practised as notary at Lachine, during that long period extending from 1687 to 1701. As we have seen, St. Annes or rather St. Louis du bout de l'Isle de Montreal was erected into a parish during the «summer of the year 1685, probably in view of the transfer of the Indian Mission located at La Presentation, which was sold to Pierre Le Gardeur, sieur de R’pentigny, on the 7th of September, 1685.

De La Londe was elected the first churchwarden of the parish of St. Louis, and in fact had been, before the civil erection; as far as the 21et of August, 1684, he was ‘Marguillier de la Mission du hault de l'Isle”. Registre de Lachine.

On the 22nd May, 1685, the baptism of a son of the sieur Cavelier (Pierre), “receveur de Messieurs les Seigneurs”, was celebrated at Lachine. The godmother was ‘‘la femme de Sean de La Londe, premier marguillier de la partie supérieure de cette Isle”.

On the 12th of November, 1685, the first ban or publication of marriage of Claude de La Mothe was made ‘‘en la mission du haut de l'Isle, à jour ouvrable, encore que l'on ne dit la messe en ce lieu que par forme de mission ”,

On the 18th February, 1686, the next ban of Guillaume D'Aoust was made ‘‘au prosne de la messe dite en cette paroisse de St. Louis”; but it is not stated where the service was held, Present at the marriage at Lachine, Gabriel de Berthé, sieur de Chailly, Pierre D’Ailleboust, sieur D'Argenteuil, Cybard Couraud, sieur de la Coste, Jean Guenet.

Notwithstanding the apparent contradictions in the registers of St. Louis, it may fairly be inferred that St. Louis du Bout de l'Isle had a small chapel as early as 1685, which was temporary and intended to be replaced by a church or église paroissiale as early as 1687.

The terrier quoted in the text states that when the deed of concession was granted to Jean de La Londe dit Lespérance, te chapel had been built by Mr. D'Urfé. This deed was passed on the 3rd day of March, 1687, before Pottier, notary. See also inventory of De La Londe, by Pottier, 19th January, 1688, Mr. D'Urfé became curé in the fall of 1685. The chapel must have been erected by him about that time. From the registers of St. Louis and the terrier it is evident that Pointe St. Louis was the site selected for the parish church. but it was subsequently changed. It was undoubtedly considered unsafe, at least not as safe as l'Isle aux Tourtes, which was in close proximity to Fort Senneville and Fort St, Annes, and as a necessary consequence, the idea of building a church at Pointe St, Louis, near Baie d'Urfé, was abandoned, The Indian Mission of the Nepissingues and Algonquins was transferred to Isle aux Tourtes, where a fort was also constructed. When was this transfer made? No record that I know shows this; but it may be inferred that it must have been before the year 1709, as René Godfroy, sieur de Lindot, was commandant from that year to 1718. This fort was known as ‘‘Le fort des Sauvages”, or ‘Roünagathing”. Registres de Sainte- Anne.

- The parish was still called St. Louis in 1709; but in 1713, the name häd been changed., The registers for the years 1712 and 1713 are missing. The royal edict of the 3rd of March, 1722, concerning the parishes of la Nouvelle France, declares that Sainte-Anne-du-Bout-de-l'Isle will comprize ‘‘la mission des sauvages Ne- “ pissingues établie sur l'Isle-aux-Tourtres, que le curé de la dite paroisse dessert ‘il continuera de desservir, par voie de mission”, Ed, et Ord., vol. 1, p. 159,

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